PEAK EXPERIENCE
Introduction
by Michael Galitzer, MD.
As many of you know, for the past
eight years I have been associated with a cutting edge vibrational technology
called VibraSoundÔ. Some of you have experienced this wonderful music therapy in my
office. Because I believe so much in
its effectiveness, we have VibraSoundÔ in both our Los Angeles and
Santa Barbara offices. For this
newsletter, I have asked the inventor to share with you some of the things
we've learned about the VibraSoundÔ and the
"Peak-Experience" it can help to create. Don Estes is a certified medical technologist/neuroscientist, and
a leading researcher into vibrational medicine. I am pleased to introduce him to you as a friend and new
contributor to this publication.
Greetings to all fellow sufferers of
the human condition. "Such a life
on such a planet"…however if you think about it a minute, you can remember
brief moments in your life when everything did add up and make sense…that few
seconds when everything seemed okay and proceeding according to plan…that
realization of the big picture as a
friendly universe and your connection to it…those feelings of peace,
well-being, and an overwhelming sense of purposefulness and zest for life. Now granted, these blissful experiences don't
occur often, seldom last long, and are not easily generated at will, but you
will never forget that feeling you once experienced on a mountaintop, at the
beach, in a lover's arms, in spiritual ecstasy, or some other special moment of
your life.
We coined the term peak experience in the 60's to describe
these rare states of mind. However,
recent interest in the benefits of these experiences have established a need to
differentiate the actual experience from terms used to describe the benefits
such as peak state, and peak performance. The experience occurs first, bringing about
a special peak state of mind that
results in peak performance. The characteristics of this state of mind
and the resulting improved performance are both benefits of the experience, but
are not descriptive of the experience itself.
What is the exact nature of the
actual experience? How can one know
when it is occurring? How could an
outside observer (therapist) know it was happening? How would one quantify and qualify different levels of experience
should they exist? What conditions,
enhances, or blocks it? How could one
improve their ability to achieve it at will?
These are all questions that Dr. Galitzer and myself have been trying to
answer during the eight years that we have been investigating it together with
other professionals all over the world.
Most of us were brought up being
told that "success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." This may have been true for ages past, but
does not seem to be the case anymore.
In fact, these days it seems to be the opposite. People are perspiring more that ever, but
inspiration is really hard to come by!
We've all "been there, seen it, and done that", and now
there's little left to keep us "turned-on" to life. When there is no inspiration, there is no
purpose. When there is no purpose life
becomes boring and uninteresting. This
is why so many people seek after peak experiences. Many techniques have been tried over the centuries…dancing around
the fire, nature/ancestor worship, music, meditation, self-denial/abuse, social
service, and even drugs. The common
thread was a search for the purpose and meaning of life, and the fact that all of
these experiences lead to a non-ordinary state of mind commonly referred to as
an…Altered State.
Many, but not all, of the
characteristics of these peak experiences have been documented. Some of the ones we have investigated are:
It
usually happens spontaneously without thought and is hard to create at will, or
upon demand. Most people report that it
has only happened to them a few times in their life.
Almost
always a positive experience that makes the person feel good, it's usually
accompanied by some or all of the feelings and realizations mentioned earlier.
The
experience has various levels of realization that must occur in a specific
sequence in order to continue to completion.
Otherwise, it ends prematurely.
Certain
factors can aid in the creation of the experience such as good health,
spiritual intent, proper breathing, appropriate vehicle (meditation, technique,
or technology), sensory resonance, aroma anchors, and a trained facilitator to
assist one through the process.
Certain
factors can block access to these higher states of mind such as lack of
required energy, fear of the process or some change that it might bring,
emotional obstacles, inability to give up control, lack of appropriate
technique or technology, lack of available time to devote self discovery, too
much focus on the outer sensory world-hedonism
or its opposite an-hedonism (the
inability to experience even healthy pleasures). In addition, the fear of being labeled "weird" or
having inappropriate behavior is also limiting.
Unlike
other experiential techniques that ask one to take control of the situation to
make some change, the peak experience usually requires one to let go and give
up control, and just "go with the flow".
There
is no time perspective associated with the experience. Time does seem to flow but does not have a
speed or direction. In addition, there
is no space. One can move from one
location to another instantly.
Healing
has come from changes within the body that are associated with loss of fear,
emotional catharsis, forgiveness, acceptance, and a desire to get on with life.
Life
improvement has occurred due to major decisions, creative ideas, powerful
realizations and a desire to be a better person.
For
these and other reasons, we believe these peak experiences are the answer for
all those hardships that life seems to dish out with such abundance. They can relax the mind, recharge the body,
improve health, change attitudes, shift moods, ease pain, release emotions,
spark creativity, transcend the material, inspire the spirit, and in many other
ways, synchronize the personality.
An-hedonism and its associated obstacles are, not only the causative
factor of disease, but the main reason that deterioration is allowed to
continue. Therefore, learning how to make this "non-ordinary" state become
the "ordinary" one of normal daily life could soon become the goal of
all humanity. As mentioned earlier,
there are many different techniques used to achieve these peak states.
VibraSoundÒ, a state of the art neurotechnology that
blends almost every aspect these varied techniques into one coherent
experience, is currently in use with professional healers all over the
world. It has been featured on ABC,
CBS, NBC, CNN, Next Step, Beyond 2000, Future Science, and Science Frontiers as
well as many other national and international media. The "techknowledgy" synchronizes light, sound, color,
intent, aroma, breath, and intense vibration with music so beautiful that it
will put chills up your spine. The
internal massage performed by the music leaves your body feeling relaxed,
refreshed, and invigorated at the same time.
By synchronizing all of the body's main sensory input channels, it
coheres the mind into a state called sensory
resonance that can result in a peak experience. Beyond the benefits already discussed, this "regenerative
innertainment" can assist in stress management, creativity, emotional
release, self-discovery, and spiritual evolution. For more information about VibraSound, or to schedule your own
"peak experience", please call InnerSense, Inc. at (310)
472-9934.
In future issues we will discuss more of the
specifics of the peak experience, including "goose-bumps" and
associated neurochemistry, sensory science, signal to noise ratio, the
"pleasure freeze", healthy pleasures, belief versus technology, mind
anatomy, and spiritual evolution. Until
then…